I Dream about Santorini ©

They say when you fall in love you don’t know you will. It blind sights you. And hits you out of the blue. Well when I fell in love with love of my life, it did not take me by surprise. Somewhere I knew I would and I could feel it happening, the entire falling in love part. But when I fell for Santorini it was quick and it happened so fast that I could easily say let’s eliminate the falling part and call it directly in love!

It was our last spot on the trip and what I knew was that it was a romantic place and as I was travelling with family and solo on the couple front, I felt that I would obviously feel out of place. But Santorini, I was directly in love with you.

The journey didn’t start so well. Like earlier mentioned, Santornin was our last stop. Which meant the vacation was ending which obviously made me sad. Another bummer has been our mode of transport to Santornin. When we went to Mykonos we had booked a ferry and that ferry was one of the highlights of the trip. The ship was as huge as 10000 trucks, there were atleast 100 trucks and cars fitting into it, it was so grand it hardly looked like a ship with high end décor, coffee places, fast food joints, TV rooms and the works. The 5 hours of journey were blissful. I sat in the open area on the top, reading a book & listening to music being surrounded by the cleanest bluest water and islands faraway. Bliss.

We had booked a ferry to Santorini too and though I was told that this was speed boat so much faster and smaller I did not get what I expected. For starters the ferry was about 2 hours late. And waiting on a port is a no fun experience. There are no seats, no fans..nada. And these islands can get hot. Here have a look.

The wait initially didn’t seem all that bad given what I was dreaming about the ride. This was only a 2 hours ride but I had my book ready and my music set. I could not wait to soak in the sea again that also from on top of a ship. And then the ship arrived. The ship for starters was 1/10000 the size of the earlier one and the worst bummer was that there was no seating in the open! I was dejected. So post a laptop gone missing scare (yes we had one of those and if we were not the budding entrepreneurs we are trying to be I would not carry one so no lesson learnt here), went to my seat and slept off through the journey. Already wishing I could rewind time.

When I arrived there was nothing special that hit me on the port. All Greece cities look like that, white with this serene calm surrounding them. Pretty ofcourse.

What did first get to me was the ride we had to the hotel. It reminded me of all the Indian hill station drives except shorter and instead of land you are surrounded by water. The evening was just setting in this time. 

The sun seemed like a big ball of fire which would nourish you if stayed away but burn you if you got closer.

 Our hotel was situated in Fira which we learnt was one of the main centers of activity. It had the caldera view. So the location was thumbs up. The only con was that the road was rocky and uphill and there was no bell boy to carry your bags. And no equipment either. Which meant that the huge bags had to be pulled which ultimately led to the breakage of one of our bags handles (the poor thing could not finally take the load us Indians put in our luggage, us girls put in our luggage and all the pulling we did). We learnt an important lesson. When travel to Greece carry smaller bags and as much as possible travel light. Most of the time you will be pulling your own luggage. Spare your shoulders cum back and sacrifice 2-3 dresses and those heels which you will not even wear.

Coming back to the view. Amazing. Amazing, spectacular, breathtaking, and occasionally the casual awesome are few words that you will find across this article. Maybe time to use a thesaurus and find synonyms?

                                     

And the lane was bustling with places and activity.

Could on not just soak in this view everyday, observe the people, life the daug life?

That’s another thing about entire Greece. People love their dogs and everyone loves their dogs too! You will not see anyone running away when they see a dog and irrationally shouting/screaming. How many times I have witnessed our pug (a tiny creature who can easily fit in a big tote bag) stand infront of some people and scare the beejes out of them. Like what are you scared of? Too many cuddles and attention?

People love their dogs, the take them out everywhere.

The first night we choose to enjoy the view from our rooms and go somewhere closer for dinner. The lovely thing about tourist destinations and having a hotel in prime spot is that everything is always buzzing. We did not want to walk to Fira Market which we were told was a 15 minutes walk so we decided to check out the lane next to our hotel. Filled with several joints we choose on a joined called ‘il Cantuccio’ serving pizza and pasta since we were sure we would get something vegetarian there. I will not go over what we ordered. Sheena and me got a little adventures and ordered something that sounded fancy. Basically we were quite bored of eating the same thing in veg over and over again (namely the Greek specialty gyros, margarita pizza and pasta in red sauce). So when we saw something which was veg and had so many things in it, we ordered it. Lesson learnt? Do not experiment when you are veg. But overall the place was ‘awww’. It was like a cute little bistro, had now sea view as such but had a quaint magical feeling to it. Like a small little hidden café, something only the selected few could get into like the magical platform in Harry Potter.

Later in the night when I was going off to bed I saw the sight my phone camera will not catch properly. Santorini is known for its sunrises and sunsets. But what is even more epic I feel is the moon shine on the sea and the glistening water. The sight is spectacular. It excites and calms you at the same time. Only a moon can depict the right character of a sea. Shining but dark.

Next morning I was very pumped for some excursion. My brother clearly was not. I wanted to check out the town, the volcanoes, the hot springs and Oia. He wanted to have breakfast and enjoy the view from the Jacuzzi (oh yes I forgot to mention, we had one in our own room). Jacuzzi with hot water and a divine view. 

Why would one even want to leave this place?

Post all this we started off on our path to Fira market. 5 minutes into the walk and it is easy to realize why Santorini is counted as one of the prettiest places in the world (if there was any doubt left).

We made several stops along the way just to click pictures. I could picture a life out there. What would it be, waking up to this sight everyday? When I have put this thought infront of my friends a lot have said one would eventually get bored and stop appreciating it. But is it? Is it honestly possible to get bored of a heaven like place? Then why do people spend their entire lives wishing for an afterlife in heaven?

The walk is nearly 15 minutes and uphill plus downhill but it is one of the prettiest walks ever, I could do it over and over again, you get pass these beautiful boutiques, hotels and houses some of which have dogs sitting outside greeting all passersby. A place where man, nature and animals have found harmony.

Fira market had everything. Not only were there cute little souvenir shops there were high-fashion retail outlets along with wine shops. Jewellery also is big here. There were proper jeweller stores with latest designs and there were funky jewellery shops with stuff made out of stones. We spend hours going into each and every shop and exploring them. Apart from exploring new places the other thing that is really exciting to do in a new city is to explore its markets and stuff they sell. There is something in the environment there. It is not like your usual market places. Apart from looking at the unique stuff sold, there is love and romance happening on the streets. Happy faces. Children playing and jumping all around. People doing things at leisure. The shopkeepers are sweet and welcoming.  And in a place like Santorini this was all present multiplied by ten times. Maybe it is because you are a traveler so you only look at everything through this lens but the essence of any place can be judged by its market place.

The entire Fira market was like Disneyland for adults.

In the market there were also several bars and thought it was just afternoon we stumbled across one that served hookah and we had to give it a try. Albeit slightly expensive hookah and no other clients (which given the time was okay), the bar seemed a lot of fun. It is named ‘2 brothers bar’. There were several offers on drinks but guess what? No food. Which by the way is a typical Greece standard. There are stand alone bars which do not serve food. It might be a little tough for us Indians to survive in such a drinking environment. When we drink, our stomachs growl and our appetite increases and suddenly we want to eat everything in sight.

In the evening we were back in the market place to watch the sunset. We choose a place called ‘Zaffora’. It had both an open front and a terrace top seating arrangements, both given its location (on the edge of the cliff) are a win-win. We choose the terrace as we wanted the full view. A bit chilly with the wind blowing but the view made up for little shivering.

I wonder if it the sun that sets more beautifully here or the sun mixed with sea and the beautiful mood everyone is in fills this place with so much dreaminess which makes everything more beautiful. I was in a brilliant mood since we were here. Everything seemed so much nicer. Is it because I was wearing some sort of googles? Does going to Santorini give one dreaminess goggles named ‘Santorini goggles’?

Were there couples wherever I went? There were a lot, but not all. There were families too. There were friends. There were big groups. There were groups of oldies. There were people alone. I noticed how many people actually came alone. To be that comfortable with yourself to come out travelling alone, is a sign of confidence. Somebody who is so comfortable with himself or herself which most people aren’t. We don’t want company because we can’t live alone. Ofcourse we can live alone. It is just we are scared how boring we might be and hence do not want live alone by only ourselves for company.

The next day was our last. We had planned to go check out the volcanoes we had heard so much about and the hot spring followed by Oia. The boat ride to the volcanoes was a lot of fun. This was a proper boat-boat with a pirate feel to it.

The volcanoes were honestly a lot more effort and a tad bit not worth it. The sight is magnificent. Black

rocks. Craters. But the walk, be prepared to sweat it out. As used to carrying only flip flops or heels we weren’t carrying or wearing sneakers and we walked in volcanic rock ash surface for nearly 2 hours. So end result? Near broken shoes. Lesson learnt, on a tour to Greece carry sneakers? Hot springs were a pleasure while Oia was like Fira only but places there were a tad bit more expensive. It was also slight more white and blue than the Fira side of Santorini. Oia is known to have the perfect sunset view.

 In the night we hit Fira again. And this time we shopped. Picking up stuff for people back home. Post the shopping spree while deciding where to go we checked out the bard. The men outside the bars will give you all sorts of deals and discounts to get you in. It’s a welcome change from having women outside to attract people. Here we had guys (anyway this is linked up to why Greek Gods are popular :p).

In the morning as our bus arrived to take us to the airport. I was not ready to leave. I wished we had spent lesser days at our earlier destination and more here. I was not done. I did not have enough. I felt like a lover wanting more of its beloved. I was sure I was stilling wearing my ‘Santorini goggles’. I did not want to remove them.

I wanted to say goodbye to this place. Pulling our luggage was not going to be easy (remember the rocky area explanation). So I decided to get done with the heavy lifting first and then came back to the Caldera view infront of our hotel. I noticed how the moon was still visible even though sun was out and shining bright. Knowing my love for it had it also come to bid me goodbye (hopeful huh)? In the brightness of the sun even the mighty moon seemed like just a dot in the sky. (Lesson learnt in retrospect; we all are stars and when our time comes we will also shine bright like the moon does in the night. Maybe we are not waiting for our day to arrive, we are all waiting for our night to arrive. Hold on to that thought).

It’s going to be almost a week since I am back. Are my ‘Santorini goggles’ still on? Well I do see more love and beauty in things and am a tad bit more inspired than usual but that feeling you feel, when everything you look at makes your heart give out a dreamy yet satisfied sigh? You know the feeling you get why you have the first bite of your favorite chocolate or the feeling you get when you crash on the bed after a long fruitful day or the feeling you get when you get to see the first episode of a long awaited sitcom or the feeling you get when you buy a new iPhone which you waited to get for a long time? Well that feeling was with me in Santorinin all the time and is now sort of gone and I miss it. I miss feeling like that all the time and ‘Santorini goggles’ give you that feeling.

So now you know why I dream about Santorini.

Till me meet again city beautiful..keep inspiring & keep romancing..

The 'ExtroIntro'Vert ©

So let me admit this straight away. I am a bit of a know-it-all. I am. A tiny bit. My boyfriend will disagree on the tiny part but let’s leave the extend to be discussed another day.

So this know-it-all is especially present when it comes to psychology. That also human and dogs. Somewhere in the back of my head I do consider myself somewhat of an expert. I have never even taken a class on it. Ever. I believe somethings come inherent to you. If fashion and style can be so inherent why can’t something like psychology be? Right? Some people are just more attune to this stuff okay. Feelings, emotions, characters etc. etc. As for dog psychology, I had 3 dogs. So there.

So yes that’s me. A very non typical know-it-all ‘pretend’ expert on psychology. Atleast in my head.

So I was going about living my life thinking I knew all about myself. How could I not? It was me! I had to know all about myself.

I often felt sorry about people who wanted to ‘discover’ themselves, what fools I thought.

“You have known you your entire life and if you still haven’t figured it out, it really might never happen. Best of luck for all your other relationships.”

My inner voice is quite sarcastic and a bit of a bigger know-it-all b****. I apologize on her behalf. No I do not have a double personality. We all have an inner voice okay.

One of the things I was sure about was that I was a people’s person. An extrovert. I thrived around people. I loved their company.

And then one day I read an article a friend of mine had posted on her Facebook wall titled ‘27 problems only introverts will understand’ (Link- http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/problems-only-introverts-will-understand) and it all changed. I did not know all about myself.

I read it on the passing. And as each point went ahead I realized how relatable those points were to me and things I did in passing. It shocked me. What did it mean? Was I an introvert? All my habits did reflect the same.

In my 26 years of existence I have never pended myself down for an introvert. Nor has my family or my teachers or my colleagues. So could they all have been wrong?

I loved going out and had my own set of friends who I loved talking to. So wasn’t that what makes me an extrovert? ‘An outgoing and friendly person’. The classic definition of an extrovert. That was me!

But here were the realities-

• I like talking to people. But people are usually my selective group of friends. And even within this group is my super selective group of friends who I can speak to on a day to day basis. Trust me that number is really low.

• I do talk on the phone, albeit rarely. Whatsapp (and text messaging in earlier times) is my preferred form of communication. Message me. I am usually available and will usually reply in a matter of minutes. Call me and I might not answer. I feel I need to be mentally prepared to speak to someone on the phone be it my best friend. It seems like a task to speak on the phone. Often I do not answer because I am mentally not prepared to do ‘voice’ talk to them. With messaging I am more comfortable but sometimes I am in a zone and will usually take a lot of time before replying and kill the purpose of the word ‘instant’ messaging in instant. Chats I can’t do. At all. 

• I like going out. But I have my own timings & days. Like post work weekdays I do not like doing. I feel I have spoken to enough people in the day and have no energy to interact with anyone anymore and want to just go home. So I often fake sleepiness. But in reality you will find me up till 2-3 AM even on a weekday in my bed reading a book or writing or watching the latest sitcom. Then come Sundays. Sundays are my recharge days which I prefer doing nothing but sitting in my bed reading a book or writing or watching the latest sitcom. 

• I like meeting new people. But in a limit. And usually in known circumstances. How do I define ‘known’ circumstances? Like during student life, like on start of a new college year. During start of a new job. During start of a new hobby class. So if you think of it, I will possibly not be making any new friends anymore. 

• I like parties. But I prefer smaller parties where I know the people I am meeting. I prefer it even more if the people on the invitation list are my group of closest friends who I already hang out with (reiterating point about me not making any new friends anymore). I hate it when the host of the party introduces me to someone new and walks away because that usually means I will have to carry out conversation with this person I do not know for atleast a few minutes before I can pretend I got a call and walk away. It often feels like work talking to people! 

• When I come home from work I do not like it if there are guests over at home. I prefer going home, saying hi to my mommy, meeting my lovely doggies, changing and then crashing on the bed, reading a book or writing or watching the latest sitcom (I do feel me and my laptop can have the perfect relationship). 

• If you ask me to pick between going out and staying home, I will mentally pick staying home a lot of times. Doing what you ask? Sitting on my bed, reading a book or writing or watching the latest sitcom (my sitcom collection is the bomb, I should start charging people when they ask for my hard drive, I could make a hell lot of money, that is how huge my sitcom collection is).

So am I an introvert? I do tend to do a lot of things on that list.

Is it really that simple? You are either this or that? Can’t personalities have grey areas too? Maybe I was just a less social extrovert? Or a more social introvert?

I think here I have ka-boomed on a new personality called the ‘ExtroIntrovert’ (and again you will see the reflection of my know-it-all personality here).

But I am sure it’s a thing. Again I hope I am not the only one there. Anymore of our kind out there? Think about it. We all (yes we all includes me) do not know ourselves as well as we think we do. Some facets of our personality are rarely visible even to our ownselves.

No more laughing on people who want to discover themselves, I have newfound respect for you :P

The YY Sex & Kids ©

Let me just say it.

Should I?

As I type my thoughts, I can already imagine the reaction my statement is going to get.

Okay so here it goes.

I am 26 years old and I do not have a soft spot for kids. I do not find kids cute. I never have had a desire to hold a kid. No such desire to play with them. Usually when I see a kid I tend to walk away in the other direction.

Are you gasping? Or are you wondering what is wrong with me? Both?

Or is it possible that some of you are even saying ‘me too’? I hope so. I really do.

During a recent ‘cleaning attack’ I found this photo of my mom holding my brother surrounded by my maternal grandparents. When I took this photo to my mom to show and reminisce, my mom pointed out how she was my age in this photo and her parents her current age. Intended or not it made me realize that I was 26 years old, single and obviously childless. Something that was unthinkable in my mom’s era. The perfect marriageable age for girls was considered to be 21-22 years and anyone above that was considered ‘too old’.

How much have things changed in the last 25 years?

Our parents are more tolerable. They will usually not push us at 21-22 years to get married. Marrying their girl child directly after she is done with her studying is not the norm anymore. Is it because they now get the need for women to have careers or is it because in today’s unstable world with high rate of divorces they want their daughters to be prepared for the worst? Sometimes I really wonder.

What about having babies? Has anything changed there?

What was the earlier norm? Get married and have kids within the next 2 years? I really do not think that has changed. Obviously because the marriageable age has been pushed and so the age when you have kids but no matter when you get married, immediately after marriage you will be pressurized indirectly or even directly to have kids. And that is what scares me. Because unless getting married makes one fall in love with kids I do not get how I will be to my kid?

When I was younger and I did not have a special spot for kids my mom thought it was normal because kids signified responsibility and care and I never had a younger sibling or even a younger cousin. I was used to being taken care of rather taking care of someone. So she naturally assumed that it would happen over time. At that time I was too busy wanting to be an adult/wanting independence/rebelling against my parents so I could not care (how I wish I could go back to that time). But now I honestly do. So is it because I have not taken care of anyone per se? Well I would surely not like to believe that. I have taken care of family members and friends on various occasions. I have taken care of my dogs on various occasions. Infact for one who I got as my birthday gift I was solely responsible for her first initial months of feeding and training (and yes she is a beauty and awesomely trained now..yay). So what is it?

Was I born with a missing something? Y and a half Y?

Or is that kids signify the ultimate responsibility and somewhere deep in my subconscious that scares me and hence manifests itself as not finding kids cute and wanting to stay away from them (psychology 101)?

I can’t seem to decode this. I really hope I am not alone in this.

Maybe things will change. Maybe they will not. Maybe these feelings will go away. But living in this country that I do will I ever be given the freedom to act on basis of these feeling? Will I ever be given the freedom to decide when I want a kid and whether or not I even want one? That I doubt.

Why India can’t stop Honking? ©

Time and time again these articles surface on the internet, get printed in magazines/ newspapers, people voice opinions related to this on the radio and I agree that while there is not much activism for it right now and for all there is it is very subdued so I really should not have an issue. But for all those saying that we need to stop honking as a nation, that it effects the noise pollution levels, about how some countries barely honk on roads- I completely agree with your cause and totally feel that we should stop honking. But just one question- How can India stop honking?

1) Pedestrians choose to cross the road without a so much of look left look right. Crossing the road is really not like getting up from your bed and going to the loo but it seems it is.

2) The most irritating pedestrians are actually those who walk on a road like they are walking inside a mall. Holding hands, gossiping, walking slowly while back slapping each other all in the middle of a road. Like really, mall walking on roads can be injurious to life. (Between when you honk at them, they turn back and glare at you like you are the stoopid one).

3) Then there are the elite of the society. The upper class. The high society. Like Sweety aunty must get out of her BMW 7 series in the middle of the road and cause a huge traffic jam as 10 others behind hers are now stopped, rather than just ask her driver to stop at the parking stopover which her favorite Citywalk Mall has so conveniently provided just a few feet away. Sweety aunty please be sweet and think of the 10 cards peeche you!

4) There are also those people who while driving at insane speeds think it is okay to just suddenly decide to turn right. Boy I know that your hormones are rushing at the speed of light and can make you fall for one girl in one minute and the other one the next but these are cars and roads, so next time please look around.

5) So we have all these fancy lanes, but the white lines are just useless demarcations right? Because when we feel like going in the right lane we will do that and when left we will do that. We change lanes like we are actually driving in the Fast & Furious. Even indicators are not given as a courtesy. Tch tch.

6) So how many times you stop when the light is yellow and then wait for another 5 minutes for it to turn green so that you can take your right. In the meanwhile this line has developed behind you and you are happy than in 1 minute the light will be green atleast for sure you will get through. But then there comes this one smartass who think it’s okay to come from behind all the cars and put his car infront of yours and before you know all these smartasses have come and kaboom you are stuck waiting for the next green light.

7) Whenever there is a free right or left the drivers who have to go straight will never leave space for the free turns. Oh why dear fellow citizen must you be so mean?

8) Bus drivers. Auto drivers. Rickshaw drivers. BRT.

9) Oh how are we forgetting Sweety auntie’s daughter Baby? So while she stops on a red light she starts touching up her makeup (remember its apparently just touching up as she already seems so painted and you wonder if these many colours were actually be created to put on a face specially in bright sunlight). Comes out the Mac playbook. There comes the lipstick, touch up with the Lip Gloss, then her eyeliner is perfected and then the shadows. Little blush on the cheeks please? Oh perfect. But did I tell you that it was 2 minute red light? And once Baby starts with “Babying” up she can’t stop till she’s finished. And you are stuck behind her!

10) You are going home after a long day and can’t wait to get back. Your drive is long enough and you are hoping for no traffic as its late enough. And then at the most unexpected place there is a huge jam. And after being stuck there for 1 hour, you realize the reason- Baarat was dancing on the road and blowing crackers. And then you think to yourself, maybe some people do own some roads.

So we honk and we honk and we honk!

(PS- We need to really civilize ourselves as drivers and pedestrians with more empathy and consideration of others and improvement in infrastructure and then we shall truly stop honking.)